The offensive and defensive rhythms of both sides were very fast, and relatively speaking, both sides made more mistakes than in the last match.

Manchester United was somewhat uncomfortable with Southampton's revamped offensive style.

After all, in the minds of Manchester United players, the only teams that can compete with Manchester United are teams like Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham. Even Liverpool at this stage does not dare to compete with Manchester United and has to play defensive counterattacks cautiously.

But now Southampton actually dares to fight against them with a group of unknown young players, and their confrontation is very strong and fast.

Especially the center forward Salah from Egypt. He is obviously a center forward, but he can always run and steal the ball like a defender. This unconventional center forward style made Manchester United's midfield and frontcourt a little confused for a while, so Manchester United's midfield and frontcourt error rate is quite high.

On the other hand, Southampton could have seized the opportunity when Manchester United made mistakes in the connection between the midfield and the frontcourt and launched several fatal counterattacks against Manchester United. However, this Southampton team, which had just completed a magical transformation, was not yet well-coordinated and the connection between the midfield and the frontcourt was prone to mistakes and problems.

Therefore, both sides made several fatal mistakes in the first 15 minutes and wasted several sure-shot opportunities.

However, Manchester United is an established and strong team with rich competition experience, and is led by Sir Alex Ferguson, so Manchester United quickly stabilized their position.

The turning point came in the 17th minute.

After a series of back-and-forth passes, Evra sent a straight pass from the left side of the frontcourt. Giggs resisted the young Henderson and forced the ball to accelerate to the bottom! Van Dijk immediately came up to intercept Giggs! This was also a duel between a young defender and a veteran winger!

Van Dijk is very fast and has very good defensive positioning, almost blocking Giggs's route to the bottom, while Rudiger in the middle also moved sideways to support the defense.

Facing such an almost impenetrable defense, Giggs accelerated and changed his line to get rid of it, and got through the gap between Van Dijk and Rudiger one step ahead! Taking advantage of every opportunity, this is exactly Giggs's strength!

Giggs likes to get in the gap the most! At this time, the young Van Dijk still looks immature compared to the mature and fox-like Giggs! However, this king-level duel will definitely accelerate the growth of Van Dijk and Rudiger.

Even if there might be a price to pay! After Giggs passed Van Dijk and Rudiger, he took advantage of Rudiger's loss of position in the middle and passed a high ball directly to the weak area at the other end of the penalty area!

Berbatov, who was originally wandering outside the penalty area, suddenly penetrated into the weak area of ​​the penalty area like a ghost, and then faced Giggs' long pass across the penalty area, stopped the ball elegantly with his chest, and then shot sideways into the near corner of the goal.

This kick was so easy.

The offensive rhythm in the beginning was very aggressive, but suddenly after Giggs made a high pass, the style became extremely cool.

The Southampton defensive players all had no time to react!

Davis was only concerned with defending Rooney who was charging down the middle and Nani who was ready to dive at any time, and was completely unaware that Berbatov had already gotten the ball and shot!

By the time Davis leaned over to save the ball, it was too late!

The football hits the net!

The Red Devils fans in the stands of Wembley Stadium were instantly excited! Ferguson, who was sitting on the bench, couldn't help but clench his fists and cheered in celebration!

This goal made Ferguson feel as happy as if he had scored a goal for Barcelona! Manchester United players surrounded Berbatov to celebrate, but Berbatov pressed his palms, indicating that this not-so-exciting goal was not worth celebrating at all.

On the two big screens at Wembley Stadium, the score was changed to Southampton 0:1 Manchester United.

I have to say that Manchester United's attack this time was really beautifully coordinated.

Manchester United, with Giggs and Berbatov, is showing their true strength.

The game continues.

Southampton intensified their pressing in the midfield and frontcourt.

As a center forward, Salah continued to frequently retreat to steal the ball, causing trouble for Manchester United's offense.

There have been cases of center forwards retreating, but Salah is different. Other center forwards retreat at most to provide support or steal the ball, but Salah has been playing as a defender since he was a child, and his ability in intercepting, stealing and positioning is very solid.

Salah's presence on the field is equivalent to Southampton having an extra defender in the frontcourt. When attacking, Salah is the center forward, and when defending, Salah is the front defender.

This style also greatly liberated Gu Ran, allowing him to move around more freely.

Although in the first half of the game, Gu Ran did not have any special breakthrough performance except for a few fatal penetrations and passes, the pressure on Gu Ran was indeed relieved a lot. He no longer had to run around and could concentrate on walking the dog.

This time, in order to restrict Gu Ran, Ferguson specially sent Park Ji-sung and Carrick to keep a close eye on Gu Ran throughout the game. Ferguson's meaning was very clear, which was to make a two-for-one exchange.

This strategy may seem like a loss, but as long as the two-for-one exchange is successful, it will definitely be a huge profit for Manchester United.

but……

The Southampton team after the magical transformation is obviously no longer the Southampton team that could only rely entirely on Gu Ran. Although Salah, Van Dijk and others are still very young and immature, they can already greatly share Gu Ran's role in the three areas of the middle, front and back.

Moreover, Gu Ran was obviously still holding back his strength and was not in a hurry to explode.

At this time, Ferguson's strategy of using Carrick and Park Ji-sung to replace Gu Ran, who didn't need to give his full strength, was a failure.

In the 25th minute of the game, Park Ji-sung, who was known for his three lungs, was once again outstripped by Gu Ran, not to mention Carrick.

Gu Ran continued to sprint repeatedly at high speed, consuming the energy of Park Ji-sung and Carrick.

In the 28th minute of the game, Rooney received a pass from Evra and fired a powerful long shot from outside the penalty area.

Davis jumped high, escaped the ball with the first dive, then lay down in the second dive and hugged the ball before Berbatov could come up and take the shot.

At the same time that Davis successfully saved the ball, Gu Ran immediately started at high speed from the crowded backcourt! Davis immediately understood what he meant and threw the ball directly to the half-court line with a powerful hand!

Gu Ran sprinted madly after getting the ball! Salah, Chamberlain and Lallana followed behind him to support him!

Southampton's counterattack is coming! ...(End of this chapter)